Healing Architecture
Healing rooms help with recovery
Healing Architecture
Healing rooms help with recovery
Healing Architecture
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The last few years have changed our lives in many areas. Topics that were previously postponed or neglected have now come into focus. One of these issues is our health. This has made it clear to us how fragile it is and that we often pay too little attention to it. Processes were put to the test. Skilled workers were pushed to their limits. Spatial bottlenecks have caught the eye. It is therefore time for us to rethink health and make visions for the healthcare of the future a reality.
To answer this question, it helps to look at the past and the sanatoriums or sanatoriums built back then. These buildings were usually located in large parks, offered patients plenty of time in the fresh air with tranquil views on large terraces and let plenty of light into the patient rooms through high ceilings and windows. Hospitals literally referred to “hospitality,” i.e. hospitality, and focused on the patient. Today, illnesses are at the center of attention in our hospitals.
Something seems to have been lost today that used to be taken for granted. Yet the old standard is still desirable today. In a study Prof. Dr. Tanja C. Vollmer (architectural psychologist) investigated how hospital environments affect cancer patients. To this end, the expert accompanied 500 patients during their hospital stays and asked them about their perception and sense of stress. The result: Sick people, for example, perceive visual stimuli and design differently than healthy people. A dreary environment, little daylight or tight spaces become stressors here, which add to an already difficult mood.
The well-being and perception of people in the room are more sensitive. The sense of irritation and the need for security and retreat are increased. When planning a hospital, the interior design must therefore be tailored to the needs of patients. This includes, for example, requests for space for accompanying persons, places to stay in the countryside, but also areas of rest and retreat on particularly bad days.
At the Euregio Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic This was implemented consistently: In order to meet the children's needs for exercise, but also security, the nature-themed treatment rooms were equipped with tree houses or construction trailers, for example. A concept that works: The children are more disinhibited and feel safer during therapy. Faster results are achieved.
This means that architecture has an influence on our well-being and can therefore also have a positive effect on our recovery. Roger Ulrich proved this back in 1984 in his study after. He compared two groups of patients who, after identical operations, could look through their room windows either at a park with trees or at the concrete wall of the neighboring building. Patients with park views required significantly less painkillers, suffered less from depression and were able to be released home on average one day earlier than patients in the comparison group.
Just dive in Relaxation in a colorful environment at the Euregio Clinic Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Green, or a reference to nature, has a positive effect on our health and well-being. Under the guise of biophilic design, this architectural trend allows nature to move into buildings. With amazing effects: Houseplants help lower indoor carbon dioxide levels and increase oxygen levels. More oxygen means an improvement in our brain functions and makes us more efficient in everyday tasks. Plants also increase relative humidity and filter pollutants from the air. As a result, clean air also lowers the virus transmission rate.
Another aspect of biophilic design is the supply of daylight. When we perceive light stimuli with our eyes, an area of the brain is stimulated in which various messenger substances are produced: the happiness hormone serotonin, norepinephrine, which we need for concentration, and dopamine, which ensures our motivation. These three messengers are also all components of antidepressants. Therefore, the influence of natural lighting on our well-being should not be underestimated.
Light also controls the 24-hour rhythm in our body and thus the active or rest mode for our organs. The short-wave light of sunrise makes us more active and powerful, while the warm light of the evening slowly shuts down our body and prepares it for the night. With “Human Centric Lighting”, you can recreate this rhythm indoors by adapting the light temperature of artificial light to daylight.
Healing Architecture goes far beyond biophilic design. It is a holistic system that looks at people with all their senses and looks at positive interactions between the surrounding architecture and the biochemical processes in the body. In addition to the integration of nature and daylight, other spatial aspects such as the feel of the surfaces, acoustics, colors and odors are considered.
The typical hospital smell, for example, makes many people feel uneasy, which subconsciously causes stress in the body. Certain scents can ensure that unpleasant and negatively noted odors are suppressed and no longer perceived. This also benefits specialists who work in areas where there is an enormous scent load — for example in the operating room. Other odors can lower blood pressure and help recovery.
However, taking into account the needs of those who stay in hospitals, clinics and MVZs does not only affect patients: hospital planning Rethinking and taking interior design and architecture into account as factors also plays a role in retaining specialist staff. In this case, healing architecture refers to well-being at work and stress-reducing moments.
This is achieved, for example, through acoustically effective elements that reduce auditory stress, or a clearer zoning of different areas of use. For example, a break room should be a place of peace and relaxation that reduces permanent accessibility. Because only if specialists are given the opportunity to compensate for the heavy workload can they be satisfied at work in the long term and tied become.
And satisfied employees are important: because specialists who work directly on patients every day shape the impression of the healthcare facility. They help ensure that a stay is perceived as positive and recommended to others. This in turn has a direct economic impact. And so clinics and practices are keen to find good specialists who act as a positive figurehead. Attracting and retaining them, giving them space to develop their full potential, and strengthening their satisfaction is a task that Healing Architecture supports.
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